11 replies to this topic

[Alzun]

Here's a build I came up with.  It's a condition based build with (hopefully) decent roaming and backcapping capabilities.

http://gw2skills.net...GrWOYkwsKYEwsAA

The last 5 trait points are optional as to where they go.  They could go into trickery for Thrill of the Crime, or into acrobatics for Power of Inertia or Hard to Catch.  Haven't decided which one would be the most beneficial.  Also, Shadowstep could be exchanged for RfI or Scorpion Wire.

Any critequing and advice would be welcome!

[Powerwordfu]

Alzun, on 19 August 2012 - 01:43 PM, said:

Here's a build I came up with.  It's a condition based build with (hopefully) decent roaming and backcapping capabilities.

http://gw2skills.net...GrWOYkwsKYEwsAA

The last 5 trait points are optional as to where they go.  They could go into trickery for Thrill of the Crime, or into acrobatics for Power of Inertia or Hard to Catch.  Haven't decided which one would be the most beneficial.  Also, Shadowstep could be exchanged for RfI or Scorpion Wire.

Any critequing and advice would be welcome!

To me it seems to have a strong condition build you need to spam Death Blossom, which means you need more ways of getting init back.

This build is a bit more squishy: http://gw2skills.net...XOYkwsCYEw g5BA

However with all the damage you will do, along with caltrops on the main point and wire to pull them to your caltrops you should be able to hold a point rather well. If you wanted to get from point a to point b faster for better roaming maybe drop wire and pick of sig of shadows.

[Drekor]

Ditch the D/D for P/D. D/D is a noob trap for condition specs. LDB doesn't really apply that many bleeds and it relies on long duration bleeds(more vulnerable to removal). With P/D you have sneak attack which applies 5 stacks of bleed for effectively 3 initiative. Pistols vital shot (the #1) also applies a bleed. What this means is without anything else you can stack about 8 bleeds every 3s for as long as you can stay in melee. LDB will have 9 stacks and you out of initiative and if you get your conditions cleansed you're screwed. To add to this the C&D>Sneak attack combo does a lot of direct damage as well which would go well since you have a lot of power in your build.

I'd also suggest you switch all your runes to adventure, it's an amazing rune on a thief and especially amazing with withdraw.

[Alzun]

Powerwordfu, on 19 August 2012 - 04:15 PM, said:

To me it seems to have a strong condition build you need to spam Death Blossom, which means you need more ways of getting init back.

This build is a bit more squishy: http://gw2skills.net...XOYkwsCYEw g5BA

However with all the damage you will do, along with caltrops on the main point and wire to pull them to your caltrops you should be able to hold a point rather well. If you wanted to get from point a to point b faster for better roaming maybe drop wire and pick of sig of shadows.

I do agree about the fact that initiative regen is very important but some of your choices don't make sense to me.
You take Potent Poison and Quick Venoms but have only one Venom skill.  Spider Venom should last well over 40 seconds with all the +condition duration in the DA line, so I don't think Potent Poison is needed.  Again, I don't think a 9 second reduction in one skill ( Quick Venom) is worth taking.

Just my personal opinion, but I feel like a 7% chance to restore initiative is way to low to be worth taking.  The Infusion of Shadow with Hastened Replenishment is a pretty good combo though ( if they stack).

Only thing I don't like about Signet of Shadows is the fact that it doesn't stack with the Swiftness boon.  Other than that, looks like a pretty decent build.

[Alzun]

Drekor, on 19 August 2012 - 05:13 PM, said:

Ditch the D/D for P/D. D/D is a noob trap for condition specs. LDB doesn't really apply that many bleeds and it relies on long duration bleeds(more vulnerable to removal). With P/D you have sneak attack which applies 5 stacks of bleed for effectively 3 initiative. Pistols vital shot (the #1) also applies a bleed. What this means is without anything else you can stack about 8 bleeds every 3s for as long as you can stay in melee. LDB will have 9 stacks and you out of initiative and if you get your conditions cleansed you're screwed. To add to this the C&D>Sneak attack combo does a lot of direct damage as well which would go well since you have a lot of power in your build.

I'd also suggest you switch all your runes to adventure, it's an amazing rune on a thief and especially amazing with withdraw.

Wow, those adventure runes are really nice.  Didn't notice that before.  Thanks.
Yeah, I know p/d is generally better for condition damage, but I just hate using pistols and I feel like it goes against the whole theme of the thief (sneaky, quiet, etc.) Besides, you miss out on Heartseeker and the poison+weakness combo on MH dagger.  I may end up going with p/d, but I'm not there yet.

[Quantum Chaos]

Drekor, on 19 August 2012 - 05:13 PM, said:

Ditch the D/D for P/D. D/D is a noob trap for condition specs. LDB doesn't really apply that many bleeds and it relies on long duration bleeds(more vulnerable to removal). With P/D you have sneak attack which applies 5 stacks of bleed for effectively 3 initiative. Pistols vital shot (the #1) also applies a bleed. What this means is without anything else you can stack about 8 bleeds every 3s for as long as you can stay in melee. LDB will have 9 stacks and you out of initiative and if you get your conditions cleansed you're screwed. To add to this the C&D>Sneak attack combo does a lot of direct damage as well which would go well since you have a lot of power in your build.

I'd also suggest you switch all your runes to adventure, it's an amazing rune on a thief and especially amazing with withdraw.

Ever since Sigil of Superior Earth was nerfed, I couldn't find a good bleed spec for thief. I don't think we're all that great at it anymore. I use to run a really good bleed build with Sigil of Superior Earth where I could keep up 10-15 stacks of bleeds constantly with Pistol/Pistol and unload spamming. I miss that. =(

[Asbourne]

Quantum Chaos, on 19 August 2012 - 07:41 PM, said:

Ever since Sigil of Superior Earth was nerfed, I couldn't find a good bleed spec for thief. I don't think we're all that great at it anymore. I use to run a really good bleed build with Sigil of Superior Earth where I could keep up 10-15 stacks of bleeds constantly with Pistol/Pistol and unload spamming. I miss that. =(

pretty much just have to move to a power and condition build and no more crit procs. it's not bad though since you get good damage on top of your sneak attack bleeds.

[Drekor]

Quantum Chaos, on 19 August 2012 - 07:41 PM, said:

Ever since Sigil of Superior Earth was nerfed, I couldn't find a good bleed spec for thief. I don't think we're all that great at it anymore. I use to run a really good bleed build with Sigil of Superior Earth where I could keep up 10-15 stacks of bleeds constantly with Pistol/Pistol and unload spamming. I miss that. =(

You can keep 10-18 or so on with p/d and no earth sigils and as Asbourne said with the changes to earth sigil you can use carrion amulet and hybrid out and deal good direct damage in addition to condition damage. P/D goes extremely well with hybrid builds as well since the basic C&D>Sneak attack combo in addition to doing condition damage does a huge amount of direct damage to. D/D has the downside that LDB is it's condition spam but to do good direct damage you need either backstab or heartseeker and you don't have any initiative left to use them.

[Powerwordfu]

Alzun, on 19 August 2012 - 05:15 PM, said:

I do agree about the fact that initiative regen is very important but some of your choices don't make sense to me.
You take Potent Poison and Quick Venoms but have only one Venom skill.  Spider Venom should last well over 40 seconds with all the +condition duration in the DA line, so I don't think Potent Poison is needed.  Again, I don't think a 9 second reduction in one skill ( Quick Venom) is worth taking.

Just my personal opinion, but I feel like a 7% chance to restore initiative is way to low to be worth taking.  The Infusion of Shadow with Hastened Replenishment is a pretty good combo though ( if they stack).

Only thing I don't like about Signet of Shadows is the fact that it doesn't stack with the Swiftness boon.  Other than that, looks like a pretty decent build.

You do have an additional posion with your 1 ability that they added in last stress test. You are right though the quick venom recharge trait could be switched out for mug.

As for restore initiative while it is a low 7% I can't really see what should replace it. Since this build is very heavy on getting initiative it makes sense. Also spamming 1 became very viable when waiting for initiative since it applies a -33% reduction and condition damage on the 3rd strike.

Edited by Powerwordfu, 20 August 2012 - 04:08 AM.

[Alzun]

Powerwordfu, on 20 August 2012 - 04:06 AM, said:

You do have an additional posion with your 1 ability that they added in last stress test. You are right though the quick venom recharge trait could be switched out for mug.

As for restore initiative while it is a low 7% I can't really see what should replace it. Since this build is very heavy on getting initiative it makes sense. Also spamming 1 became very viable when waiting for initiative since it applies a -33% reduction and condition damage on the 3rd strike.

True, the 1 skill with poison and weakness is effective, but I still feel like 7% is too small.
You could change it out for Thrill of the Crime or Bountifiul Theft, but if you like it, go with it.

[Drekor]

Alzun, on 20 August 2012 - 04:24 PM, said:

True, the 1 skill with poison and weakness is effective, but I still feel like 7% is too small.
You could change it out for Thrill of the Crime or Bountifiul Theft, but if you like it, go with it.

7% on dagger is actually quite good. The #1 chain hits 3 times in about a second giving you about 19.6% chance per chain. Overall it's a half decent initiative boost. I wouldn't recommend it with something like pistol that attacks so much slower though.

[Alzun]

Drekor, on 20 August 2012 - 06:02 PM, said:

7% on dagger is actually quite good. The #1 chain hits 3 times in about a second giving you about 19.6% chance per chain. Overall it's a half decent initiative boost. I wouldn't recommend it with something like pistol that attacks so much slower though.

Also, doesn't the second skill in the #1 chain hit twice, so it's actually higher than that?  But then again, percantages aren't addittive so I'm not sure how that would work.  I guess when you put it like that it's not that bad if you have nothing else to get.
Side note, has the sword animations been sped up?  Because relative to the other weapon sets I thought they were a little slow.